Derek Sommers was a US Marine and the half-brother of Peyton Sawyer. He helped her overcome her feelings regarding her attack by Ian Banks, who posed as him in order to gain her trust. He eventually forced Peyton to deal with her problems and the two formed a close relationship despite his sudden departure when his duties as a marine called him away from Tree Hill.

Contents

Character History

Before the Series

His mom was African American, left for the military when he was a little older than Peyton was. He joined the military, and it saved his life. His dad left him when he was little. His mom juggled two jobs, and Derek started getting into trouble. He found out he was scared.

He boxed when he was young, taught by dad. He knew all about Peyton and hated his dad, Ellie and her for it.

Season 4

A while after Ellie Harp passed away, Peyton took out a Led Zepplin album that Ellie left her. She found a note saying she had a half-brother named Derek with his phone number. Peyton decides to reach out to him, after calling him, he hung up the phone on Peyton telling her never to call him again. After being rejected by him, Peyton used her podcast to reach out to Derek saying she wanted to meet him. A man named Ian Banks listened to her broadcast was obsessed with Peyton, he pretended to be her half-brother after stalking Peyton's webcam for quite a while. Ian showed up at Peyton's doorsteps saying he was her brother and told her his name was Derek when his real name was Ian. She believed him and they started hanging out. Shortly after, Ian was jealous of Peyton's relationship with Lucas Scott because Ian knew her feelings for Lucas and tried to break them apart by saying Lucas told Brooke he would never talk to Peyton and also pretended to be Lucas by creating a fake instant messenger account and started to chat with Peyton. Peyton found out it was Ian who was pretending to be Lucas and she got scared. She stayed at Lucas' house and Lucas called the police and soon, the police call Lucas saying they had Derek. He showed up at the station and saw Peyton's real brother and said that he is not the one they are looking for. Lucas realized that Peyton was in danger because Ian was still on the loose. He ran to Peyton whilst Ian was in the middle of attacking Peyton. The real Derek then spent his time trying to make Peyton stronger because she feared Ian.
Peyton felt uneasy. Derek then started teaching Peyton how not to be afraid. He brought a practice mannequin in Peyton's house to teach her boxing. He then told her to take a chance with Lucas as he cared about her. He then left to go into the marine corps.

Season 6

Peyton went to see Derek finish Marine training and they talked for a bit. Later Derek showed up at the USO concert to see Peyton perform, after Haley's performance he complemented her performance and the fact that she put her son before her career because Derek didn't have a mother like that. After the USO concert he thanked Peyton for organizing the concert for the Marines and he thanked her for being the only family he has.